SAN ANTONIO – Have you noticed all those butterflies out there right now? Well, we discovered they're not the butterflies you might think.
They are not the Monarchs that migrate through here on their way to Mexico. These are smaller American Snout Butterflies - born and raised right here in the Alamo City.
This butterfly baby boom is actually a sign that the drought is over.
“What happens is after a drought they go into this sort of reproductive diapause, and they don't bred. And the drought ends and the Hackberry trees have new leaves on them and the butterflies all breed,” explains Steve McCusker from the San Antonio Zoo. “And then in ten to fifteen days the young turn into butterflies – the eggs hatch, the caterpillar eats and they turn into butterflies. So now we're now witnessing this swarm of adult butterflies.”
McCusker tells us we'll probably see them for a couple more weeks.
